THE LOW FESTIVAL 2008

The first edition of the LOW Holland-Flamand Kultfeszt proved to be a success far beyond the expectations of the organisers, both in terms of the number of the visitors (more than 50 thousand, with most events being sold out) and the media coverage.

The festival has proved that there is interest in Hungary in contemporary, cutting-edge artistic expression. The experiment of introducing contemporary Dutch and Flemish culture – with the help of a team of nine Hungarian experts who were responsible for the artistic programming of the festival – seems to be a successful one. Besides presenting Dutch and Flemish art, it was a goal of the festival to establish a sustainable cooperation between Dutch, Flemish and Hungarian organisations and artists. The festival already resulted in close cooperation between De Melkweg and A38, as well as between Hungarian and Dutch galleries. The Hungarian Krétakör theatre group has started to work together with the Dutch/Flemish group Wunderbaum, while the Hungarian band Quimby will start cooperation with the Dutch band Alamo Race Track. Besides these the Antwerp based Toneelhuis and the Merlin Theatre will work together in the future in Flanders as well as in Hungary. Last but not least WAMP, the Dutch-Hungarian design festival provided a fruitful cooperation initiative between young Hungarian design students and the prestigious Dutch Droog Design, led by Gijs Bakker.

Besides the experiment of working with local curators, Flanders and the Netherlands emphasized the PR of the festival for the first time. The fact that LOW Festival is now a well-known brand of contemporary culture proves the success of this model.The festival took place on more than 25 locations in Budapest and Pécs, with a total of 500 Dutch, Flemish and Hungarian performers.

On this website you can relive the 2008 edition of the LOW Festival by watching the photos, reading the articles and reviews.

The LOW Festival brings a variety of Dutch and Flemish contemporary arts, performing arts, fine arts, classic, jazz and pop music, design, theatre, and films to Hungary for a month in February and March 2008. The name of the festival alludes to the Low Countries, the region encompassing the Netherlands and Flanders.

The basic aim of the festival is to introduce contemporary Dutch/Flemish culture to the Hungarian public, and to enhance, support and deepen artistic cooperation between the Netherlands, Flanders and Hungary.

The conceptual and transactional work of the festival is organized by the Dutch Embassy along with the Flemish Representation in Budapest. There will be an information centre during the whole festival in the Merlin.

Festival events take place at over 20 locations in Budapest and include approximately 500 performers and 100 performances. The exhibitions and performances will be held from the 15th of February until the 12th of March.